


Goddess Makes Hero

by fenellaevangela



Category: Proto-Indo-European Mythology
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-11
Updated: 2014-03-11
Packaged: 2018-01-15 08:36:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 624
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1298440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fenellaevangela/pseuds/fenellaevangela
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The hero slayed the serpent. But there was always more to it than that . . .</p>
            </blockquote>





	Goddess Makes Hero

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Eve (Aoife)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aoife/gifts).



> I really enjoyed the process of writing this, Aoife, and I hope you get some enjoyment out of reading it! 
> 
> For anyone interested, I based the gods powers/responsibilities on the information from [this site](http://ceisiwrserith.com/pier/deities.htm), and I found [this article](http://anarchelariu.wordpress.com/2010/08/09/the-myth-of-the-hero-slaying-the-dragon/) to be a useful discussion of the origins and possible themes of the myth of the hero slaying the dragon.

The woods were dark and cold, and the maiden waited.

She could wait by the river, she supposed, but the river ran through the middle of the valley far from the treeline. She thought about standing exposed under the open sky and decided she preferred the dark.

“Most girls choose the riverbank,” came a voice from the shadows. The maiden stiffened but did not move. “They choose the comfort of the flowing waters and the bright stars. Did you think I would not find you, hid among the trees?”

“I do not hide,” lied the maiden, heart pounding.

The shadows beside the maiden stirred, grew solid, and moved closer to reveal a figure between the trees. “Did you think you could go home if I could not find you?”

“No,” said the maiden. She had only _wished_ it. 

“No matter,” said the serpent. “I have you now, and you are mine.”

*

Gwouwindā looked down from her perch in the sky and glowered. “This serpent tries my patience!” she exclaimed.

“A serpent?” Héḱwonā asked. “What care you for some earthly serpent? Does it menace your cattle?”

Gwouwindā turned her glower to the other goddess. “Do not mock me, Héḱwonā. I'm in no mood.”

“So serious!” Héḱwonā exclaimed. She sat down next to the other goddess and peered down upon the scene below. “What has happened now?”

“This serpent!” Gwouwindā huffed. “It holds the flowing river captive, leaving the land to grow parched and brittle. The people call upon me to bring back the fertility of Spring but I can do nothing so long as the serpent controls the waters.”

Héḱwonā watched the serpent move far below. She frowned. “The serpent is so bold as that?”

“Worse!” the other goddess bemoaned. “It has claimed _tribute_. It allows just enough water to reach the land that the people will not starve, so long as they sacrifice a maiden to it s clutches once a year.”

Shocked, Héḱwonā turned away from the scene below and faced her fellow goddess.“How can you let this go on? Remove the serpent! Show the people what it means to make a mockery of the gods.”

“I cannot!” Gwouwindā sighed, frustrated. Such action would surely be easier. “Vengeance goes against my nature. A goddess of prosperity and healing cannot _smite_ , no matter that the case may warrant it.”

So the situation would remain as it was, then, with the gods seemingly no more powerful than a meddling serpent. The possibility was more than Héḱwonā was willing to tolerate, but fortunately there were other ways to fight against it.

“Perhaps you need not smite it directly,” she suggested.

*

The woods were dark and cold, and the young man shivered.

He should not have been out alone, the young man knew, but there was nothing to be done for it now except hurry home as swift as he could in the starlight. He could have settled amongst the tree roots for the night, he supposed, but he thought of the serpent and its maidens and decided he would prefer his poor-lit trek.

“How convenient,” came a voice from the shadows. The young man startled and almost lost his footing, but did not fall. “A young man so far from home, no companions. Are you out here alone through recklessness or bravery?”

“Who's there?” asked the young man, heart pounding.

A figure stirred in the shadows beside the young man, shifting between the trees as it moved closer. “It does not matter; either one will suit my purpose. Have you ever slayed a serpent?”

“No,” said the young man. He did not know _how_.

“No matter,” said Héḱwonā. “You are here, so you will have to do.”


End file.
